


All About Framing

by kijilinn



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Korean OFC, Original Female Character - Freeform, Photography, Unrequited Love, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 04:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11661204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kijilinn/pseuds/kijilinn
Summary: Kirk's lonely. If he'd stop talking and actually look around once in a while, he might figure out that he doesn't have to be.





	All About Framing

Kirk studied himself in the faint reflection of the window. Luke tried to ignore him, wiping the counter, stocking the condiments. His eyes kept sliding to where Molly sat at the far end of the bar, her head low over her mug of coffee. 

“Do I look alright?” Kirk asked and Luke looked up. 

“You look fine, Kirk,” he sighed and tried not to notice how Molly shrank in on herself. 

“I’m going to Sookie’s wedding,” Kirk continued in his usual nervous monologue. “I’ve heard it’s a good place to meet women.” Before Luke could say anything, Kirk had turned and come to the counter, still trying to make sure his tie was straight. In exasperation, Luke motioned and straightened it for him as he added, “I hope so. I’m so lonely not even Animal Planet does it for me anymore.” 

Luke gritted his teeth and tightened the tie a little more so Kirk made a soft _ glick _ in the back of his throat. “When’s the last time you went to an eye doctor, Kirk?” He loosened the tie again when Kirk’s face started to flush.

“The eighteenth of March,” Kirk responded, rubbing his throat. “I always go in the second week of March, preferably the second Saturday. Why?”

“I think you should go again,” Luke told him, his voice flat. “There is so much you’re missing.” Kirk stared at him, the little worried line appearing between his eyebrows as he processed Luke’s words. “Never mind,” Luke said and waved a hand. “Hey, Molly. You going to Sookie’s wedding?”

“I dunno,” she answered without looking up from her coffee. Her straight, black hair was drawn back into a ponytail, but the grown-out bangs brushed her cheeks and half-covered her oval face and her dark hazel eyes. Luke sighed in frustration. He had been trying to throw these two nerds together for months, mostly because he knew Molly was over the moon about Kirk and Kirk was--in typical Kirk fashion--utterly clueless. “Not sure it’s worth it without a date.” She peeked through her hair to meet Luke’s eyes and he smiled. She was playing along, at least. 

Kirk was still fussing with his tie, apparently not even having heard Molly speak and Kirk glared at him. “Kirk, you should go with Molly. She’s free.”

“I RSVPed already,” Kirk said without looking up. “Were you invited?”

“Yeah…” Molly replied and sighed while Luke shook his head. They both knew where this was going. 

“Did you RSVP?”

“Yeah.”

Kirk stopped fighting the tie to look at her and Molly dropped her eyes back to the floor. “If you RSVPed and I RSVPed, there’s no reason to take you as my plus-one. If anything, it would be a disaster. You’d mess up the seating arrangements.” Molly nodded despondently without looking at him. “Besides. If I’m sitting with someone, it’s harder to meet women.” When she still didn’t look up, he paused and checked his reflection in the glass again. “I should go. I don’t want to be rude. Being late is very rude.” 

The door chimed after him. Molly groaned and dropped her forehead on the counter beside her coffee mug. “I give up.”

Warmth caressed her face and she listened to Luke pouring more coffee into her mug. “No you don’t,” he said and wiped up a few drops of coffee that spilled from the carafe. He dropped a donut on a napkin next to her hand. “Go to the reception. Get drunk and dance with Sookie. You’ll feel better.”

“Will you dance with me, Luke?” she asked with a lift of her lips. 

“No,” Luke replied. “I burst into flames if I have fun. I’m a fire hazard.”

Molly grinned and took a bite of donut. It was her favorite, the chocolate cream filled ones with raspberry glaze. “Thanks, Luke.”

“On the house,” he said and came to lean on the counter across from her. “Chocolate soothes unrequited love, I’ve heard.” When Molly’s lips twitched sadly, he sighed and said, “I just don’t know why you’re still hoping. You know Kirk as well as I do. He’s clueless.”

“Then why are you still helping me?” Molly mumbled into her coffee mug. 

Luke smiled. “You’re one of my best customers. Have been since before you were tall enough to look over Dad’s counter. And I know Kirk. The happiest he’s been is when he’s with someone like you.”

“And remind me again why he’s single?” she smiled back and Luke rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.

“Ji-Min,” he sighed, “you are bright, friendly, calm, and kind. You’ve kept your individuality in spite of your father’s expectations and you still manage to find ways to make him proud of you and remind him that you’re an American.”

“Having Mom helped,” she grinned at him and he nodded his acknowledgement of her American born half-Korean and half-English mother.

“You deserve better than that clueless twit, but you like him and I like you, so I help you.” Luke shook his head and dropped another donut on her napkin. “Have another donut.”

Molly smiled.

 

***

 

Sookie and Jackson practically danced out of the clearing and Molly watched them go with a feeling of warmth in her chest. Neither of them had managed to stop grinning the whole ceremony and she knew that kind of love was what she hoped for someday. 

Someday.

The gaggle of Stars Hollow residents began collecting themselves to go inside for the reception and Molly stayed where she was, just watching as the people she had known all her life streamed past her. She saw Kirk floundering through them near Miss Patty, resplendent in her silks and flower crown. She smiled in spite of her melancholy. She knew it wasn’t realistic to hope she’d draw Kirk’s habitually inward-turned gaze, but she had seen flashes of his intellect past the stiff awkwardness, a sense of humor that just didn’t make sense outside of his head. Creativity and an artistic sense that hinted at a depth he didn’t show on the surface. Sure, he was weird. But he was kind, too. Molly curled her knees to her chest and hugged herself, trying not to cry. Loving him was a terrible idea. It didn’t change how she felt, though.

“Why the long face, doll? This is a wedding. Ain’tcha suppose to be smiling?” Molly tilted her head to smile up at Babette. “That’s better.” The older woman patted Molly’s cheek, then lowered herself carefully into the chair beside her. “But really, what’s got you down?” When Molly didn’t answer and her eyes darted to locate Kirk again, Babette murmured, “Oh, I see. You haven’t tried to tell him yet?”

“No,” Molly whispered. “I’m not sure it’d change anything.”

Babette reached and pulled Molly’s head to her plump shoulder, hugged her and rocked a little. “Sweetie, he’ll never know if you don’t tell him. He’s had plenty of time to figure it out on his own and he hasn’t.”

“Maybe I’m just not his type,” Molly whispered and smiled when Morey put a hand on her shoulder to squeeze. “Can’t blame him for that. If he was interested in me, he’d have asked.”

“Kirk’s an idiot,” Morey said in an aggrieved tone.

Babette looked back at her husband with a little gasp of horror, then hugged Molly again. “Morey’s right, babydoll. You’re anyone’s type. He doesn’t deserve you.” 

Molly let her cheek rest on Babette’s shoulder, then smiled. “There’s an open bar, right?”

“Sure, honey.”

“I’m taking Luke’s advice,” she whispered and pulled herself standing. She wiped at her face and smiled at Babette and Morey. “Thank you.”

 

***

 

Kirk circled the reception, snapping pictures and framing the chatting, laughing people through the viewfinder of his camera. Everything seemed easier behind a camera. It gave him that little bit of distance so he could focus. He was committed. He was a man on a mission. He was…

Lonely. 

He stopped at the buffet table and took a second to stare down the delicate flutes of champagne, more of Sookie’s excellent food, the towering cake with its spiraling spray of flowers promising more later. He crouched beside the table and sighted along it, composing the image and adjusting his focus. 

“Hey, Kirk!” called Jared, one of the guys who worked at the gas station. He stumbled over his feet and then steadied himself on Kirk’s shoulder. Frustrated, Kirk gave up on the cake photo. “Great party, huh?”

“Sookie made everything right, except those lemon curds. They’re too sweet. And the champagne is a little sour.” Jared stared at him for a moment and Kirk recognized dimly the confusion there. He gave his friend a stiff smile and added, “The cake looks tasty.”

A wild chiming of champagne flutes rang out in the room and both of them looked up. Sookie and Jackson were standing near the cake, both of them beaming and Lorelai had a microphone. She eagerly told everyone it was time for the cake and Kirk hurried over to get a better position to watch the cutting. Behind him, Kirk heard Jared say something about how gorgeous Lorelai looked, but he was already deeply into framing his shot.

As he let the shutter fly and the newlyweds joyfully fed each other cake (without even smashing it on each other once), Kirk drifted into the creative middle distance, where the camera found what it needed and he was free to think about other things. He studied the angles Sookie’s veil made around her plump, beaming cheeks, how the kilt seem to make Jackson look even taller. Guests came to collect cake while Jackson and Sookie headed for the dance floor and Lane kicked up the music. He kept shooting until he ran out of film, as which point Sookie hollered, “Kirk! Camera down! Get out here!” Shaken free of his trance, Kirk looked down at the roll of film in his hand, then set camera and bag aside.

Kirk did like to dance. His style didn’t really make sense to anyone but him, but he still enjoyed it. Story of his life, really. He tried to connect with a few of the women dancing alone. No luck, only nervous smiles and declines so he continued on. When he stopped to catch his breath, he found himself standing next to Luke near the punch bowl. “Found her yet?” Luke asked and took a sip of his punch.

“Who?” 

“The One.”

“Who?” Kirk gave Luke a puzzled sidelong look before spooning his own glass full of punch. 

“Never mind,” Luke sighed. “I did see a girl who’s here by herself that you haven’t asked to dance yet.”

Kirk perked up a little. “Where?”

“She’s… going for the champagne. Again.” Luke frowned, then nodded at the buffet. 

When Kirk swept his eyes over the length of the table, he frowned. “I don’t see her.”

“Right by the champagne, Kirk. Long, pretty black hair.”

Kirk pinched his lips together in frustration, still looking.

“Orange and yellow sundress. Nice hips?”

“Behind Molly?”

“So you CAN see her!” Luke cried and waved a hand at Molly. “I was starting to think she was a ghost and haunting me.” When Kirk looked back in puzzlement, the older man shook his head and growled. “You really should get your eyes checked, Kirk.”

Frowning, Kirk said, “I don’t know why you’re so angry at me right now. Of course I can see Molly. I see her almost every day, twice if there’s a town meeting.”

“And what do you see when you see Molly?” 

Kirk raised one eyebrow and shrugged. “Ji-Min Bae. Nice girl. We went to school together, she was a few grades behind me. She was a good student, then went to junior college, I think. Her father tried to marry her off, but she refused.”

Luke watched his face, then said, “Is that all you see?”

Kirk shrugged again. “What’s to see? It’s just Molly.”

“You’re a good photographer, Kirk,” Luke sighed. “You figure it out.”

Kirk watched him walk away again, still feeling lost. Luke always had the weirdest advice, but there was nothing keeping him from taking a few more pictures during the reception. Kirk located his camera, finished loading the fresh film, and went back around to see if Molly was doing anything worth photographing. 

He found her weaving her way through the press to spin Sookie out of Jackson’s arms with a lofty, “Mind if I cut in?” With Sookie giggling and Jackson shaking his head, Molly proceeded to lead Sookie in a brisk waltz around the room, completely at odds with the music playing, but keeping perfect internal time. Kirk blinked, surprised. How long had she been dancing? He snapped a few pictures, then moved to another angle to take a few more, plus one of Jackson’s face as he watched them. She relinquished Sookie back to her husband and reclaimed her glass of champagne, breathless and smiling. 

She turned towards him, just starting to lift the glass and he pressed the shutter several times, the ratcheting sound of the high-speed film suddenly loud in the absence of music between songs. Molly stopped with the glass halfway to her lips and stared at him. Kirk watched her through the viewfinder, paralyzed for a moment by the way she was looking at him. He tilted the camera to center her face, then adjusted the focus. 

Her eyes were hazel. He’d never noticed before.

Her cheeks flushed brilliantly and she turned sharply away from him to vanish back into the press of dancers. Kirk dropped the camera against his chest on its strap and craned his neck, suddenly urgent to find her again. He dove after her until she popped out on the other side and hid beside the punch bowl. “Molly, wait.”

Molly stared at him, her eyes a little bloodshot from the champagne and her cheeks still flushed from the activity. And something else? “What, Kirk,” she sighed in a tone that he couldn’t read. “Aren’t you hurting your chances with the ladies by talking to me?”

_ Hurt _ , Kirk thought to himself, feeling a little smug to have placed it. She sounded hurt. But why? He hadn’t done anything to her. “Why is everyone yelling at me today?” he said, at a loss for anything else to say. 

“I’m not yelling,” Molly said, her tone softer and her head bowed. She stopped to drain the remaining champagne from her glass, peered down the flute and sighed again, obviously disappointed. “I’m just tired.”

“Maybe you should go home. Or Luke could make you a coffee. His coffee is good.” He could tell that his answer hurt her more, her eyes closing and her face turning away from him like he’d hit her. Why was she hurt? It didn’t make sense. They were sound suggestions if someone was tired. He knew she liked coffee: she was always drinking it when he saw her at Luke’s. Frustrated and hunting for something to say that would make that hurt in her face go away, he finally blurted, “I make terrible coffee or I’d make some for you.”

Molly went utterly still, then turned to look at him again, her hazel eyes wide. She really did have incredible eyes, hazel with a rim of dark brown, going almost green in the center. Kirk met her eyes, studying their shape and color, the way she had dusted just a little bit of mascara down her lashes, enough to enhance her eyes but not enough to look made up. The little smear across her cheekbone that looked almost like she’d wiped at her face and rubbed some of the mascara off. 

Like she’d been crying.

“Do you… like to dance?” Kirk said, finally drawing his thoughts together enough to move forward again. When she didn’t move or answer, he swallowed and continued, “I saw you dancing with Sookie before. You looked like you were having fun and you dance very well.” Molly was still watching him like a cornered animal afraid of being kicked. “I didn’t know you danced.” Finally, she nodded and Kirk felt something release in his chest. “Miss Patty’s?”

“When I was little,” she said softly. “Ballet until I was maybe ten. Jazz and modern until I went to college. I don’t have the body for ballet.”

“Your body looks fine to me,” Kirk replied, then froze, realizing what he had just said. “I mean for dancing. Not because I’d look at you sexually. You’re my friend. I wouldn’t dehumanize you like that. I just mean your body looks healthy and fit, like you’d be a good dancer.”

Molly swallowed and wrapped her arms around her middle, chewing her lip. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

Kirk squirmed, then looked back at the dance floor, which was thinning a little for an uptempo, electronic version of a familiar ballroom dancing two-step. “Huh. I know this song.”

“It’s faster than the original,” Molly agreed, listening. After a second, a smile curled her lips. “Wanna try it?”

Kirk gave her an alarmed look. “But it’s faster.”

“You’re a good enough dancer to speed it up,” she grinned at him, challenge in her voice. He stared at her a little longer and realized that she was not only serious, she was eager for that challenge. “C’mon, Kirk. It’d wake me up better than going home or coffee.”

Kirk shifted, then turned to put his camera on a chair and wrap the strap around it. “Why not.” He turned back, bowed seriously to her and offered her his arm. “May I have this dance?”

The delight in Molly’s face stunned him as she smiled, curtsied, and took his arm. “Yes, you may.”

Kirk straightened his spine and escorted her to the dance floor, then held out his hand for her to take. She stepped into position and beamed up at him. “One, two, one, two,” she whispered under her breath, reminding him of the beats in the faster electronica. They rocked briefly, finding the rhythm and then stepped out. 

The faster beat made it harder to focus on the steps, but it didn’t take him long to find them and Molly’s fast feet stepped precisely with his, never faltering. By the time they had made two rounds of the dance floor, which had cleared eagerly for them amid excited cheering and applause, Kirk found himself relaxing into the song. Molly’s brilliant smile was contagious and he smiled back at her, feeling the steady joy that came with dancing with an excellent partner. As the song ended, he spun Molly out and back to him, holding her close for a final pose. They were both breathing hard and Kirk could see the euphoria on Molly’s face. “Thank you.” 

“Thank you,” she whispered back. Kirk started to step back from her and then realized she was swaying after him, not ready for him to leave. It surprised him, but not nearly as much as his own reluctance to actually let her go. He pulled her to him again and she rested her cheek against his chest with a soft sound. Lane had switched the song to a slow dance and it allowed them to just lean on each other, alone in a sea of other dancing couples. 

“Molly?” he said as he bent his head to be closer to her ear. “Am I missing something? Because I really feel like I’m missing something. I don’t like it, it makes me feel like everyone’s laughing at me.”

“No one’s laughing at you, Kirk,” Molly replied without moving her head. “Just dance with me. Please?” 

He nodded warily and settled his arms around her again, still moving slightly with the song. Kirk’s mind turned everything over and over, picking apart the pieces of the evening and trying to make a logical context for the current result. He tried to understand why she was clinging to him like this and why it felt so good. She was his friend, had been since he was in high school and she had been in middle school. He saw her every day when she had breakfast at Luke’s, then again at town meetings and sometimes bumping into each other at the library or on the street. She was Molly. Just Molly.

_ “You need to get your eyes checked.” _ Luke’s voice rang in his head and Kirk closed his eyes. Now, he could see the glances that lingered when he walked past her, the shyness of her smile, how she twitched away and blushed in embarrassment if their hands brushed. He could feel her leaning into him now, desperate to keep him there a little longer. 

“Molly?” Kirk whispered and she looked up. When her stunning eyes met his, his stomach knotted immediately and he swallowed, trying to focus on his words. “Can I kiss you?”

Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. “I… If you want to,” she whispered back. 

Nervous, awkward, almost twitching with uncertainty, he leaned down to cup her cheek in one hand and lowered his lips to hers. It took a few tries before he could relax and just kiss her, but the feeling of her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her mouth on his was dizzying and wonderful. Her lithe, warm body pressed into him and Kirk let out a long, slow breath through his nose. Her hands worked up into his hair and he didn’t even care that she was messing it up; she wanted to touch him and he wanted her to. 

Whooping and cheering finally broke into his awareness and Kirk looked up to see that the reception had essentially stopped while all the townspeople cheered and clapped, watching them. Molly started to giggle, pressing her face into his chest and Kirk’s eyes finally located Luke where he stood, slowly clapping and looking pleased. When Kirk met his eyes, Luke grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “Guess I see better through a camera,” he murmured and Molly continued to laugh.


End file.
